After selling off the Marantz SR4500 the intent was to jump onto the HD audio bandwagon. While searching, the trusty Pioneer Elite from EJ was put back on active duty for the processing function. Alas, I did not anticipated that it was a 5.1 - thus rendering the other 2 Revel surround redundant.

I now realised that the earlier decision was a prematured one. It would seemed after much deliberation that it is an unwise decision from a cost perspective.

The entry ticket to HD surround is too high considering that at present I do not have any HD player to speak of. It is also unclear what time frame is the adoption. Therefore, it became painfully obvious that I will need to live with the older 7.1 technology for some time.

Enter the SR7500 - lucky! Couple days back, I came across the ad on a SR7500 on the used market. It’s about double what I sold my SR4500 for, however this model is 2 levels up and has THX Select to boot. There is a significant boost in pwr as well. This would also meant that I now have an opportunity to get rid of the Rotel RMB1066 6ch amp.

It appears that there is a lot of eq movement this year.

The unit was installed last night - looks real pretty and purposeful. The initial audio test is ok - nothing fantastic nor anything negative. BUT it does not match well with the ML432. Must be the balance-unbalance thingy… each time I switch the surr mode, there will be a thump emitted from the front speakers. Not good. I wonder if I can ever get rid of this annoying error. Help, anyone?